


Oh, What A Night

by TwoCatsTailoring



Series: Post-Dawn [1]
Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Blood and Injury, Emergency room, F/M, Gladio is worried, Medical stuff, Stitches, ignis is not really fine, kinda gross, the dog lives
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-13
Updated: 2018-07-13
Packaged: 2019-06-09 17:07:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,061
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15272241
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TwoCatsTailoring/pseuds/TwoCatsTailoring
Summary: Ignis and Penny meet. It isnt exactly romantic.





	Oh, What A Night

**Author's Note:**

> Wrote this ages ago. It's not really done-done but it's done-enough. Also, unbetaed

At one in the afternoon, the first woman in labor arrived. She didn’t stay long in Emergency because she wasn’t far along enough to actually deliver on the ED. No, that woman (and her infant) arrived at about 4:15. Penny was the lucky person who was actually on the floor, amniotic fluid up to her armpits, who got to play catcher for that one. 

No matter how many times she did it, no matter how many weird places it happened (because if a Nurse Practitioner was assisting a delivery it was going to be out of the ordinary) being in on a birth was amazing. Not amazing enough to make her turn in her Emergency Certifications for Obstetrics, but still pretty cool.

Penny was half-expecting the next real jump into action moment to be Danica showing up in labor. They joked about it at the central desk, but the evening crept on with a minimum of fuss. A broken leg, an infected surgical site, and a sudden fever rounded off her Saturday evening shift and before she changed to leave, she walked over to the Neonate Ward and checked on both sets of mom and baby. The first was still in labor and the second pair were resting and getting to know each other. 

All in all, it had been a satisfying shift, but she was ready to be home and eating actual food while she watched stupid television. But a familiar (if slightly unwelcome) face peeked out from the last ED room and she was on high alert.

“Gladio! Is she in labor?” there was an informal betting pool going about when Danica and Gladio’s second child would arrive. And if the baby got here before noon tomorrow, Penny stood to win.

But something was really off. Gladio did not look like an expectant father, he looked a little sick and more than a little wary. Every alarm bell went off and Penny was down the hall and in the room in an instant. 

Only where she thought she’d see her best friend in pain there was a lanky man with glasses sitting in a chair, a dog in service harness pressed against his legs, and one of Dan’s dish towels wrapped around the hand he was cradling to his chest. 

And his face. She knew that face - it was plastered across every gossip magazine in the breakroom. 

“Gladio, what the hell….”

“He just got here tonight. Wanted to help with dinner, but you know how small that kitchen is. Caris ran through, jostled him and shink! Knife went right through his finger.”

While Gladio was talking, Penny had gone into autopilot, washing her hands, snapping on gloves, and parking herself in front of the Insomnian Premier, Lord Ignis Scientia. 

“Hey, I’m Penny,” she started, grateful for years of experience and training that was keeping her from asking all the really unimportant questions like how do you know each other? and holy crap so this is where you’ve gone to ground? “Can I get a look at this?”

“Yes.” Was the simple answer, and Penny took note of the strain in his voice. Rumor had it that he had left the city under doctor’s orders to get away for awhile. Something about working himself sick? Either way, he was in here because he was hurt.

Probably in considerable pain too, now that she had a look at the gash that was still oozing nice bright blood. She winced for him and reached for the gauze. “I know it hurts. I’m sorry.”

“I’m fine,” His Lordship said, forcing a smile. 

“Well, technically if you’re in here, you aren’t. But here, hold this on as tight as you can. I’m going to have to stitch it up.” She closed his hand around the gauze on his finger and patted his arm. “Are you allergic to any medications?”

“No, not to my knowledge.”

“Okay, I’ll be right back.” She stripped her gloves off and tossed them in the bin hear the door, toeing it in the direction of Gladio, who was looking pretty green around the gills. “Don’t puke on my floor, Amicitia.”

All the way down the hall an to the storage room she held it together, only allowing herself to balk one time at the surreality of this situation while she was gathering the sterile packs of sutures and numbing agents. She grabbed Amit from behind the desk along with a stack of intake paperwork and headed back.

“Don’t freak out,” she told Amit with a smile right before she opened the door. 

And to his credit, the twenty-year-old ED filing clerk and all around good guy Amit only paused for a second before he went right to work, setting himself up to take all of the most politically powerful man in Lucis’s medical and personal information. She was proud of him. 

And Penny prepped while Amit asked his questions. When she was ready, a dozen individual sutures lined up across the metal tray to her right, she nodded for him to stop.

“Okay Lord Scientia,” she began.

“Ignis.”

He did look pale now. “Okay Ignis, I’m going to try to get your whole finger numb, so you’re going to feel the stick right about here,” she touched a gloved fingertip to the spot where the principle nerve to his hand passed nearest the surface of his skin, “And it’s going to feel really strange. This medicine feels cold first, then hot before it starts working.”

He nodded and held very still and she appreciated the fact that he didn’t seem to be too nervous. Not that he seemed like the type to ever be truly nervous about much at all. His public persona was so controlled and deliberate. Almost cold. 

But his personality didn’t matter right then. What did matter was that about halfway through the slow injection of the numbing agent, he exhaled in a burst and his ramrod straight posture slumped forward and kept going.

“Damn,” Penny shifted, catching his shoulder with hers while trying to keep his hand from moving and getting the hypodermic out. “Amit…”

She didn't have to say anything really, because the young man was already at her side, threading an arm under Ignis’s and holding his weight off of her while Gladio did the same on the other side. 

“Not into needles?” She asked, casting a searching look up at Gladio.

“Nah, that’s ok. He’s just,” he shrugged. “He’s not been doing so great lately. Not sure how long it’s been since he’s slept and his assistant told me that he’s not sat down to a meal in about a week.”

“No time,” came the exhausted reply from Ignis.

“Glad to have you back, Sir,” Amit said with a shaky smile. He’d tell Penny later on that he had a sudden horrible moment where he thought they’d killed the Premier and he couldn't decide how to cope with that or tell his mother. So his relief was very, very real.

“Yeah? Well, I’m not risking you falling out of this chair and breaking your head open on my watch,” Penny countered. “As soon as you tell me you can, we’re getting you up on the table and on your back.”

He only nodded, some of the color he’d lost returning after a few slow breaths. “Enid, up.”

Enid, the dog at his feet apparently, got up in an instant and stood at the ready. With Gladio still holding on to his arm, Ignis made his way towards the exam table and got himself situated while Penny rolled her tray of things back where she needed it.

Enid tucked herself to the side, near Ignis’s free hand. Penny swore she saw the animal roll her eyes.

“Can you feel this?” She touched his injured finger around his wound and he shook his head. 

“Just enough to know you are touching it. No pain, though,” he assured, then amended through gritted teeth as she swabbed the wound, “That is cold though.”

“Yeah, I could numb your entire arm and still not get the very edges of this wound. Sorry,” she apologized. 

“No worries,” he assured, “I’m sure I’ll survive.”

“And without additional injuries,” Penny chuckled. She gave his arm a squeeze, “Ready? Here we go.”

She knew that it hurt. Stitches, no matter how quickly and carefully done, are never comfortable. This wound at least wasn’t ragged and clean. So a rinse with antiseptic, seven tidy individual knots, and a clean bandage later, he was done. 

“You’ve had stitches before,” she asked as she came back in the room with is discharge paperwork. 

“Never for long,” he admitted.

Penny nodded before she remembered she had to talk. “Right. So it’s not too hard. Don’t move that finger more than you can help it, especially for the first week. Change the bandage daily for the first few days. Those sutures will dissolve on their own, but try to keep them dry for at least two weeks and if it starts to feel hot or tight or really painful, get to a doctor. The last thing anybody need is an infection.”

Ignis nodded his understanding. “I’m staying with Gladio and Danica, so I’ll impose on one of them to help me keep an eye on it.” He turned an ear towards the hallway door as he spoke and Penny looked that direction as she heard it too.

Someone was running full speed down the hallway. Whoever it was stopped outside the room and paused before knocking and sticking their head in. 

“Amit? What is....,” Penny began but did not get to finish.

“Baby three,” he gasped, looking between Penny and Gladio. “It’s Mrs. Amicitia-Colon.”

The expletives that fell out of Gladio’s mouth struck Penny as hilarious but she didn’t get to enjoy it as he was looking panicked. “Iggy, I….”

“You told me before that Penelope was a dear friend of Danica’s?” Ignis said quietly.

Penny nodded again, “Yeah, the best. And I was there when Caris was born, so it’s his turn.” She tried very hard to sound lighthearted about it and must have succeeded well enough that Gladio didn’t notice or didn’t care.

“So it stands to reason that she can show me the way back to your house,” Ignis solved the problems that Gladio’s mind was too full to articulate and he closed a hand over Ignis’s shoulder and squeezed. 

“You okay with that?” Gladio asked, nodding to Penny.

“Yes! Go on!” She held up a hand to forestall anything else he was about to say, “And I’ll get Caris from the neighbors. Just go. Babies don’t wait!”

“I expect you to name him after me,” Ignis intoned evenly as Gladio gave his shoulder another squeeze. 

“No way, Iggy. No way in hell.” And they both laughed before Gladio hurried from the room. 

Penny laughed quietly at him and said, “What a night, huh?”

“Indeed.”

“Listen, I need to go grab my bag and I’m guessing you haven't eaten yet. So how about I find you an out-of-the-way spot to wait while I go do that, and we grab something before I walk you back and collect Caris for the night?”

“That sounds fine to me,” he said as he took hold of Enid’s harness and gave her a one-word command. “I take it there is a plan for her care?” 

“Oh, yes. I’m going to stay at Danica and Gladio’s with her at night, and bring her here to be with mom, dad, and new baby during the days.” She rounded the corner into an empty interior waiting area and said, “Have a seat and I’ll be back in a few minutes.”

Finally alone in the muffled silence of the ED staff bunkroom, Penny let the surrealness of the evening wash over her and she flopped onto the couch in a fit of giggles that turned into laughter that brought tears to her eyes. She’d helped deliver a baby on the floor of the ED, had stitched up the PREMIER OF INSOMNIA after he’d had an accident in her best bud’s kitchen, and now while that same friend gave birth she was going to buy the man a taco before going to play Best Auntie Ever by letting a 3 year old have a whole cupcake before bedtime. 

What a night, indeed.


End file.
